So now The New York Times frets — as I have — that once he got the nomination, Barack Obama has been makingu-turns and right turns as he rejects public financing, embraces the Supreme Court’s gun decision, criticizes the Supreme Court on the death penalty, and flip-flops on FISA. (Oh, and I forgot, as he endorses “faith-based initiatives.” Here, alone, we see a helluva compilation of Constitutional views on guns, unreasonable search and seizure, capital punishment, and separation of church and state. He taught con law — let’s look up some of his old lectures, someone, please.)

I don’t want to — I really don’t want to — say I told you so. But this is what I feared from him: that his empty rhetoric was the mark of high cynicism in politics (if I get get them to buy this hot air without saying anything then I can do anything I need to do to get elected… though he’s not even letting what he has said stop him from flipping). My other fear is that he is unproven and could be Jimmy Carter, and given the clumsiness of his dash from left to middle — overshooting the mark and ending up too far to the right for The Times’ comfort — I’d say he’s not looking so smooth right now.

So what is it you can believe in with Obama? What is change? Answer me that.

Oh, I’m stuck voting for him. So are his cultists who are now protesting his moves; they’re really trapped. But this is what I feared.

Says The Times:

We are not shocked when a candidate moves to the center for the general election. But Mr. Obama’s shifts are striking because he was the candidate who proposed to change the face of politics, the man of passionate convictions who did not play old political games.

There are still vital differences between Mr. Obama and Senator John McCain on issues like the war in Iraq, taxes, health care and Supreme Court nominations. We don’t want any “redefining” on these big questions. This country needs change it can believe in.

He’s just a politician.

: LATER: In the comments, Fred Wilson is making what is now becoming a common argument: he’s doing what he has to do to win: “I feared he wasn’t tough and polished and skilled. These moves show that he is.” Hear Eric Alterman saying the same thing: “I don’t know what he really believes in his heart.” Read Mike Tomasky saying the same thing: “It’s acceptable – and necessary – for Barack Obama to compromise his liberal principles in order to get elected…. I’ve always objected to setting up principle as a value that’s oppositional to winning. To me, winning is a principle. It’s the highest principle there is.”

Well, since everyone’s abandoning principle for expediency, even though I disagree with the Obama supporters who are criticizing him on FISA — I actually support his stand — I will celebrate how they are holding his feet to the fire on his own principles and I’ll say what we need in particpatory democracy is more folks like them and fewer who are willing to throw aside principle for power, means for the end. That is politics the old way. That is what we were promised would be changing. In the immortal word of another blogger: Heh.

: LATER STILL: In my recitation of Obama’s flipping and sidling, I forgot to include his possible rethinking on Iraq. Here, again, I agree with him — he should reconsider dates and deadlines based on reality; I’ve said that all along (and so did Hillary). But this, too, will piss off the loyalists who got him where he is.

: And the Kossaks are restless. In response to Obama’s statement — which acknowledges the revolt brewing under his own wing at MyBarackObama.com — comments include:

The only explanation for his Oct 2007 FISA stance? Principle. He stood to gain nothing otherwise from it.

The only explanation for his current stance? Political necessity.

The only problem? It’s not necessary. We’re getting played, here, folks. This explanation is crap. He’s using several of the very same frames used by other capitulators and moderate Rs.

We’re. Getting. Played.

But other Kossaks are sounding like the robot on Lost in Space: Does not compute. Does not compute.
One complains: “Has this site always been so insane or has it really, really jumped the shark recently? I don’t belong here anymore.” Another adds: “That’s how I feel Like I don’t belong with the net roots anymore. Even TPM has been hammering Obama.”

And just as in every cult I’ve covered (and I covered them in my San Francisco newspaper days), paranoia emerges: “This is another ‘operation chaos’ style invasion to create a wedge among Obama’s supporters. The sad part is that Markos from Kos and Arianna from Huffpost, indirectly sparked the idea when they criticized FISA. While criticism and accountability should be welcome, those in a position of influence such as Ko and Arianna should use it more responsibly, knowing that Rove, Limbaugh and right-wing nuts are out there ready and desperate to use any tactic to diminish O’s support base.” The cult is cracking. They always do.

I guess its inevitable. If people didn’t see this coming, it would shock me. He’s still the best candidate, but its simple election (and economic) theory that he would eventually swing to the center (if not a bit to the right to get those votes as well). What’s surprising? He just wants to get elected.

I agree with Fred Wilson: these moves show that Obama is wise enough to know he has to move to the middle to win the election. And on some of these issues Obama is moving in my direction as well, because I’m more of a moderate than I am a left-wing liberal.

I don’t see this as a bad thing. In fact, I hope Obama will continue to move in this direction, and on the issues where we disagree with him on where he’s going, we just need to speak up, as the folks on his own website have done and as the NYTimes has done and as you are doing. And Obama needs to continue listening to his constituents and learn where there’s a broad-based consensus (and where there isn’t).

This isn’t about “flip-flopping,” it’s about learning and growing and being flexible. I’d take an honest, flexible politician any day over one who puts on the pretense of being “firm” on issues and then behind closed doors (or even in the open air as Hillary Clinton did in the last few weeks of her campaign — e.g., gas tax holiday? gun rights? get tough on China? etc.) completely go the other way without acknowledging it.

A. duBeaumarchis

So you’re saying it’s too bad we’re not dealing the Clintons, those paragons of principle? Heck, _they’d_ never change a position out of political expediency…

I’m no fan of Obama, but you may have picked the one flaw of his that doesn’t look so bad next to Hillary…

Laura

The problem for you, Steve K, is that you don’t really know what the real Obama thinks or will do. The more liberal supporters think he is moving right (or toward the center) because he has to say these silly things to get elected, but he is really a left thinker, and will govern from the left. The moderates say, yea – he is moving toward the center, like I knew he would, and taking up the more correct positions and will govern from this more moderate position. So which is it? You don’t really know and neither do I.

A.,
Well, that was the reason were supposed to vote for Obama not her. Oh, nevermind.

Daniel,
Well, I start with the Supreme Court. But then, I now have to wonder where he stands on Constitutional issues. That’s the problem: This raises more questions.

BernieO

For Obama to practice politics as usual is particularly destructive since he brought so many new people, especially the young, into the process by claiming to be above this kind of thing. They are bound to become more cynical about politics than they were before getting involved.

In addition to Obama’s flip flops, he also told AIPAC that Jerusalem should always stay the capital of Israel. Talk about unprepared. I guess they did not teach him that the capital of Israel is Tel Aviv when he was getting his foreign policy training in Indonesia. This was a colossal blunder which only inflamed Israeli-Palestinian tensions. Had Obama not been so cocky about his foreign policy prowess and bothered to get informed about the basics of foreign policy he would have known better. I terrifies me to think that I am better informed than the guy who is likely the next president of the US. Yet again.

DO

I can see why this would be the most infuriating moment of the campaign for Hillary supporters (unless Obama actually loses.) This week we’ve seen exactly the kind of fidgeting and meaningless statements many Obama supporters expected out of Hillary – we realize he’s not, as of yet, beyond politics, and I think there is some fear he may not be as good at it.

Maybe I was alone, but I was looking forward to a general election campaign in which Obama fought a progressive battle, using the confidence of the ‘post-partisan’ mindset he’d been hinting at. That he might use his rhetorical skills to turn conservative arguments on their head, even maybe take the (unfortunately quite influential) conservative pundits to task on their own turf. There is still time for him to do this, but it was Hillary we saw driving home an unapologetic, clear-spoken liberal disposition on The O’Reilly Factor toward the end of the campaign.

She did *lose* the primaries, so I’m not saying she was the ideal candidate to Obama’s “empty suit”. I like to remind myself that Obama was running a very piss-poor, wishy-washy campaign during the primaries until a few weeks before the voting started, so maybe he is biding his time, and just upsetting his base in one fell swoop.

This is where we really need all that ‘hope’, I suppose.

James

Obama is lying to get elected. Once in the White House, he will drift back toward the left. His seamless ability to change positions on the same day may be part of his psyche. Obama is of mixed race and has lived in several cultures. He may have adjusted his manner to fit in when he felt like an outsider. Obama became whatever people wanted to see. This may be a problem if he negotiates with foreign leaders who wish us ill.

Buyers remorse? Face it, watching our future leaders go through the horse race of becoming President is like watching old reruns on TV. The people want sincerity and someone that actually cares about our country. We get billion dollar primaries, special interests up the wazoo, and then wonder why our candidates morph into nothing more than an empty suit that spouts the same sound bites as the last guy.

Reassurances of “he’s lying to them now in order to win” carry the burden of “so, how to we know you weren’t lying to us then?”

What’s the ‘true’ position of Obama? Who knows? The only principle one can nail down is that of seeking power.

Jimmy

Maybe I’m naive, but I just don’t get worked about all this. For me it comes down to a clear choice: Senator McCain or Senator Obama. I do not fear for the constitution under an Obama administration, but considering the complete sell-out John McCain has become to win the Conservative Evangelical vote I do fear for the constitution under a McCain Administration.

Moreover, Jeff, would Senator Clinton have been any different? I don’t think so. She was veering towards the right in the latter days of the primary as Obama was swerving left. No politician is ever going to live up to the expectations we have for them, they can’t always be 100% supportive of the same ideas we as individuals or small groups believe. That’s not cynical, it’s just fact. Bill Clinton never saw a position he wouldn’t change for political expediency. That may speak volumes about the kind of politician he is, but does it detract from the fact that he was a pretty good president? No.

On the issue of public financing I don’t quite see the end of the world as some do. On FISA, again I don’t see this as quite the issue everyone makes it out to be. I don’t support the death penalty, so I disagree with Obama’s position on this issue, but Obama has not changed his public position on the death penalty. I disagree with him on the DC gun control issues, but he has always supported commonsense regulation. Hell, he gets an F from the NRA!

So there’s my rant. When it gets right down to the important issues, Seantor Obama is far from Conservative and while he may not be a major lefty, his positions are far more Progressive than some give him credit for.

Required

Who care what his really positions are. He was lying then or he is lying now. That’s who he is now. Everyone has a point where they will fall to temptation, and Obama has reached that point. What will he do after he is elected? Whatever is good for Michelle’s kids is what he will do.

roger rainey

These apologists are such trusting folks. I guess rolling the dice on what he will do, for no one really knows, is preferable to another republican administration. I don’t think Obama even knows what he stands for, apart from doing and saying whatever it takes to win. In such circumstances, the only conclusion that can be reached is that for some people anything at all is better than a republican president. They would vote for a tree stump it was a democrat.

Required

His lack of experience wasn’t supposed to matter because his judgment on Iraq was so superior. Now that he has changed that position, is his judgment ever more superior than before?

EMD

Obama is becoming to the Left what McCain became to Conservatives: untrustworthy, and something of a disappointment. Yes, Conservatives will hold their collective nose and vote for McCain. If Obama continues his rightward tilt (a complete turnaround on Iraq and taxes are all that’s left of the metamorphosis), will the Kos-by Kids forgive him? They are far more vitriolic and vengeful than their right-wing compatriots, so Obama is playing with fire.

The Left’s Lament is great theater to those of us who long since figured out Obama’s opportunism. The broken hearts of the anti-American Left. it’s so…Balzac.

PMain

Isn’t it interesting that both candidates have to change or morph their views to the right to get elected? Obama, basically has to contradict what little of a voting record he has & almost a year’s worth of speeches, his views on abortion, trade, FISA, Iraq, etc; while McCain has to temper his about immigration, trade, place nice w/ the Christians, etc. It seems that majority of Americans do not share the moderate to left view & yet it’s the far left & right that seem to be the most disappointed w/ the candidates & most distrustful of the other side. Neither side willing to recognize that they are the minority & that their views do not reflect most Americans’.

The irony is that this move to the center/right position is what caused Hillary the nomination & is completely acceptable by Obama supporters now. One most contradict one’s supposed views to get elected & you trust that person to return to the stated views that have been so publicly rejected vs. doing whatever it will take – a moderate to right platform – to stay elected & maintain approval or power.

Obama’s judgment was spot-on about one thing though, he’d cash in on other people’s rage, get the money & then switch to whatever position insured him success, knowing that his supporters cared more about obtaining power or gaining perceived revenge, rather than maintaining any principles along the way. Change was promised & delivered… he’s changed everything.

I suppose those who criticize Obama the most just wanted him four months before the elections to stick to strategies / policy statements, before the real campaingn begins.

Intelligence and politics are not mutally exclusive. Application of both is revered in camps where some take the time to ‘think”.

Winning at the Amerian political game usually happens from the Center– that is political strategy for winning. The liberals are so concerned about his truth they prefer if he holds on to a false idea than winning the election with room to correct as he goes along. No wonder the sane among us shy away from anything labeled– “ultra”.

In my company are political moderates/conservatives. They like Obama because his arguments are reasonable. He leads with Change, but applies commonsense. His so called flip-flopping comes has he weighs the circumstances of an issue and adjusts his arguments/idea to make sense has he learns more about it. That makes sense!

He is proving to be more politically savvy than many in his own party even thought he would be– and as the ‘eat your own’ Democrats always are, they are ready to throw to him to under the bus.

Compare to the others– who never made it, he still holds the most crediblility and is still the ‘least objectionable’ of them all. I have the patience to give him time to prove that he tougher and smarter than those planning his political demise. http://manchestersquare.blogspot.com

Kay

Why does anyone think this man has any bedrock principles? He quit his church when the heat got too hot, for crying out loud. If he’ll do that, he’ll do anything to get elected.

Barack is making Bill Clinton look like a paragon of principle and integrity. He is nothing but a better dressed Nixon.

Obama reminds me more and more of Robert Redford’s character in “The Candidate”. After saying anything to win, I’m afraid Obama might achieve victory only to say, “NOW what do we do?”

MW

“If Obama continues his rightward tilt (a complete turnaround on Iraq and taxes are all that’s left of the metamorphosis), will the Kos-by Kids forgive him? They are far more vitriolic and vengeful than their right-wing compatriots, so Obama is playing with fire.”

I don’t know, they may be more vitriolic and vengeful, but they are also easier to lead. All they need is Kos to tell them that electing Obama means they are “crashing the gate” and they will fall in line. And Kos himself wants a democratic victory at all costs, so while he may not like Obama’s shift to the right, he won’t punish him too much for it.

Ettanin

Kind of funny how so many people are basically saying, “It’s okay for Obama to lie to other voters to get their support, just not to me.”

Jon,
Yep on the Redford reference. I bought the DVD of The candidate and planned to put up a segment that reminded me of Obama rhetoric but just quoted it instead back in February:http://tinyurl.com/6b5yhq

Obama will do what is necessary to win, that in of itself is not a bad thing.

The bad thing is that he told his party one thing to get the nomination and another to win the office. That is like the husband who lies to his wife and bosses but is very successful. He may have won in the end but no one close to him will ever trust him.

Who would have thought that Hillary was the honest politician in the primary.

have you ever posted any political criticism of any 2008 candidate other than barack obama ?

Jumped Off the Bandwagon

Here’s my question… when you vote for Obama, what the hell are you voting FOR??? His words are obviously worth nothing as he keeps reversing himself. He has very little in the way of a record to speak of. So what do we base our decision on? Are we supposed to just trust him because he says so or he looks good in a suit???? I wouldn’t hire a gardener on that kind of reference, I sure as s**t ain’t gonna vote for a President on it!

bob, yes, but right now that’s beside the point. I”m a Democrat, he’s the Democratic candidate, and I hope that we don’t just buy his rhetoric but hold his feet to the fire to stand for something (which was the image he projected). This isn’t a loyalty test for me. This is a job interview for him and we’re the boss.

Ray

Obama lies started the minute he started his run for the pres. He FLAT OUT lied on CNN about how he “never heard” Wrights racist rants before they were made public. the very next day gave that pathetic speech about race were he ADMITTED hearing his pastor preaching hate. Liberals love to accuse conservatives of being haters, but the truth is. Most of the hate comes from the left, from people like Father Phleger to Randy Roads. The only thing the left is good at is lying and smearing people to the point that anyone believes what they say. I know cause i used to be one of them but i woke up, i realized how unhappy i was and how being politically liberal was making my life worse. I always expected the government to give us “what we deserved”. But in the real word you have to work for it. Not just get it handed to you by a Nanny State and some scummy politician who promises “Change”.

Ray

oh and Jumped Off the Bandwagon, to answer your question, they are motivated by their hatred of Republicans and Pres Bush. They’ve already drank the kool aid. They know deep down inside Obama stands for nothing and will say what ever necessary to get elected. They just hate Conservatives so much that the countries future and its well being doesn’t matter. This man will destroy our economy, get more Iraqis killed(i opposed the invasion by the way) and turn our country into a Nanny State comparable to France. Obama=Bigger Government, Less Freedom. But it doesn’t matter. It makes them FEEL GOOD to support a young new face who promises “change” even though he has not once given a clear definition to “change” means. Its a narcissism at its worst. I for one like how were doing. The left and their Main Stream Media cohorts love to tell us how pathetic our lives are, that way they can promise to make it better by voting gfor them. I’m for one am sick of it. My life is good and so is most of countrymen. But the left only wins if our situation to perceived to be bad. So they repeat the lie as many times as they can cause they know eventually people will believe it.

But Mr. Obama’s shifts are striking because he was the candidate who proposed to change the face of politics, the man of passionate convictions who did not play old political games.
—

He’s from Chicago, people! Jezzzz. Change my a$$ we had the same Mayor for 17+ years and his Dad for 16 year before that. C’mon….

Brett

Lets just admit it folks… Obama is just not honest! If you compared Obama’s stances today to three weeks ago… you would think we are talking about two different people. Many citizens don’t trust Bush and claim he is dishonest… yet you would be willing to replace him with someone who has proven themself to be dishonest even before taking office. That’s just not very bright!

zorn

It disturbs me that what you are saying is that Obama has your vote even though his initial positions were wrong, and his new positions are not necessarily who he is. If he was just plain wrong on important things like Iraq, he shouldn’t be the candidate, and shouldn’t have the nomination. And now that he has switched sides on darn near every issue, I am not sure we can discern any difference between him and McCain, except race and party affiliation. And at least for me, neither one of those is a magic bullet that guarantees my vote. Right now the geezer ex-pow is looking way more real.

EyesOpen

Reading several of the liberal blogs trying to come to grips with your politician, he has you as tangled in your capes as he is. Are you for him or against him. Are your views as washed in political vanilla as his. Will you stick with him through thick and thin as he abandons you? What is your point? What are you saying here? His voting block sounds just like him.

Rev Dr. E Grady

And it is karma yet again causing problems with the left.

Barry is everything you accused Bush of being all those years, and a bit more, with much less real-world experience.

Enjoy. You’d vote for this guy no matter what. The left has no conscience.

Gun Toting Bible Hugger

I’m laughing so hard at this I can hardly stand it. Conservatives knew from the very beginning Obama is an empty suit with no resume. But he’s young and pretty, so he’ll get a few votes. But I’m not convinced he’ll win. I think the country is going to wise up as more and more truth about his background comes out and McCain will take the election in a walk.
Abe Lincoln said you could fool some of the people some of the time, and it sure looks like you liberals, uh – excuse me – progressives got fooled big time.

Relax. It’s not sure who gets my vote until I walk into the booth. The starting point for me is a Democrat and social and lifestyle issues as well as health insurance have a great deal to do with that.

Gun Toting Bible Hugger

I’ve said all along that Barry is Bill Clinton without the women.

Scott

This guy is Jimmy Carter redux.

Kay

This whole campaign is a David Axelrod Production. He put together a campaign and then found an empty suit as its front. He knew there were enough Democrats out there who opposed the war in Iraq from the start and were not comfortable with the return of the Clintons, that there was barely room for someone to come in and swipe the nomination from Hillary.

So I guess the better question to ask is, what are David Axelrod’s core values? What does he believe in? Because he is going to be running the country if Obama is elected.

Naga

Ray,
Your comments are dead on – like you, i have turned away from progressive/liberal dogmas. In the end, there arent bigger dogmatists than the “We know whats good for you rubes” Left. Barack Obama is the perfect representation of that deeply liberal attitude.

Like so many people have pointed out, when Hillary moved to the center she was called a sell out who cannot be trusted – but when a Chicago pol like Obama does the same, he is a WISE DANIEL !! Wow, what happened to him being the “progressive torchbearer” and all ? I guess the torch is a little too hot for Barry. And his flips on FISA, NAFTA, public financing and now Iraq was some thing conservatives could see pretty clearly.

The only thing that is left for him to flip on is capital gains taxes and social security taxes. As a conservative I hope and pray that Obama changes his mind on these two very crucial issues – they are KILLER plans for an economy which is still sputtering. Hopefully just as Golsbee tempered his stupidity on NAFTA, he may calm the commie in Barry down when it comes to capital gains and taxes.

“Change you can believe in” – I BELIEVE NOW ! Lol !

roger rainey

Another consideration that people seldom discuss is that McCain would act as a check on the silly Pelosi/Reid Congress. Can you imagine what we will get with Obama/Pelosi/Reid in charge? Katy bar the door!

So there really are two kinds of people in the world:
People who knew Obama is a lying, manipulative megalomaniac who makes the Clintons look like wankers.
People who also believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and leprechauns.

could you point to the job interview posts that you did on hillary, the way in which you held her feet to the fire, took her to task to stand for something

i am eager to read your post on mccain – his change in policy on issues like taxes, torture & fear mongering christians. i look forward to your critique of phil gram, charlie black & the cabal of lobbyist that surround him

Tom

At this point, all he’d have to do is oppose abortion and he’d have the exact same positions as George W. Bush, except for wanting higher taxes.

Eric Jaffa

Jeff Jarvis writes, “So are his cultists who are now protesting his moves.”

Jarvis calls people “cultists” for objecting to the actions of a politician.

That is an obnoxious and bogus definition of cultist.

It’s called being a citizen to support a politician when he reflects your views, and to protest a politician when he doesn’t.

Nobody is going to do anything to disturb the status quo, to shake the foundations of American empire, to challenge the corporations, to stand-up for human rights, to organize for justice. Nobody is going to do ANYTHING for us. Nobody.

Our government does not serve the American citizenry. It serves the corporations and the corporations only. We’ve been sold out to the highest bidder…and all you can do is offer petty complaints about an already politician who bumps ever-so-slightly more to the right? The whole system is garbage, a mish-mash of lies and deception, of half truths, of theft and corruption…and you’re complaint is that a politician doesn’t follow through on his promises?

If you think that we’ll EVER get what we want (or what we NEED) from the American political system, you’re sadly deluded. The game is rigged. And it’s not rigged in our favor. Who gives a two hoots whether a Democrat or a Republican get into office? We’re going to end up with the same crap either way.

And if you had Hillary as your candidate, do you think she would be any different, that she wouldn’t do anything or say anything to get elected? It’s not an honest person’s game….politics draws the lowest, basest forms of humanity and we elect them our leaders.